Heather Goes to Florida

It was approaching the time of the year for Heather's trip with her dad. The problem we were facing was James' schedule. He recently added quite a few new clients to his growing business and needed to fly out and set up their offices. This meant that most of his weekends were booking up and he was heading into Tithing Settlement season. When James realized he would have to go to Florida he asked Heather if she would like to meet him there. This plan meant that Heather would have to fly by herself to Florida. I was a nervous wreck putting Heather on a plane by herself. I told James I would never do it again. I learned a lot from Heather though. I asked her if she was nervous. She told me she was that morning but she had learned that if you think about something to much, or tell yourself something too much, your brain will start to believe it, therefore, she had decided to tell herself she wasn't nervous and she would quit thinking about being nervous. I was very proud of her. She was quite grown up about the whole thing. Everything went off without a hitch. Of course, I was calling James constantly to make sure he was OK and would be at the airport in time to meet her. He went to the airport three hours early just to calm me down.

They had a great time together. I've heard the high point was visiting the new Harry Potter World at Universal Studios. James informs me he couldn't get enough of the Butter Beer. He brought back mugs for all of us. I had a suspicion to how he'd gotten the mugs. Upon inquiry, he confirmed my suspicion. He had drunk that many mugs of Butter Beer. He said he didn't want to leave anyone out from having a mug. I'm sure we all agree it was an excuse to have more Butter Beer.

Heather told me she liked the Wet 'N Wild waterpark best because there weren't any lines and they got to go on whatever rides they wanted. They also made it to SeaWorld. The two "kids" had a lot of fun together and came home a little bit tanner.

Pictures of the House

Our remodel project is slowly but surely moving along. Most of the upstairs is framed and the electrician is working so we can get to the four way inspection. I've been told that as soon as the inspection is over, the other sub contractors are ready to jump right in and finish the project. I've decided I'm just happy when anyone shows up and progress is made. The outside of the house is nearly done. For those who may not have heard, when they started pulling the brick off our house to knock out the side, they discovered that when the house was originally built a weather barrier wasn't placed between the brick, stucco, and the wood. When you leave out the weather barrier you end up with rotted wood on the other side. We were lucky to discover this problem because we have been told that in 7-10 years we would have had seepage into the insulation and a huge mold problem. The downside of discovering this problem was that it needed to be fixed. This meant pulling the brick and stucco off of the entire house and replacing it while adding a weather barrier. I look on the bright side that you won't be able to tell where the new part is because all the brick will definitely match!

This is my new pantry, my favorite part of the whole thing!

A view of the kitchen area.

The stairs are getting a face-lift.

A view into the dining area, through the arches.

Looking inside the arches.

Happy Halloween!

It seems like Halloween snuck up on us this year but we did manage to get some fun things in. We went to Lagoon on Saturday, the 30th, which was actually Halloween out here in Utah. Lagoon always puts on Frightmares at this time of year. We had a really great time. One of those days where the kids get along and ejoy each other. We only planned on staying about an hour but ended up staying five hours. When it was time to leave, the haunted houses were just opening up. Heather really wanted to do a Haunted House because she hadn't done one before. It was starting to rain so James took the others home and Heather and I stayed. It truly was a haunting experience. The haunted house we went through was 3D. We had to wear glasses as we walked. After the first room, Heather took hers off so it wouldn't be as scary. I have to admit, I was pretty freaked out too. With the 3D glasses, the black lights, and the costuming, it really appears people are coming out of walls, etc. The actors were great at getting right up into your faces and making you feel like you couldn't get past. At one point, I literally had to push Heather forward so we could get out of this area. (I'm laughing as I type this because it was so funny, scary but funny!) We finally worked our way through all of the areas but ended up racing out at the end because we were being chased by chainsaws. It was an experience I will never forget and I'm glad I shared it with Heather. I don't know if I'll ever get to again because she may never go into another haunted house!

If you went trick or treating in our neighborhood, this is what you would have seen:


We had a big rainstorm but we also got to see one of the prettiest rainbows at sunset. The sky was orange and red and there was a rainbow in the middle of it. It was beautiful!

Most of the kids went trick or treating despite the rain. Luke didn't trick or treat this year because he had a party to go to instead. I got to help at the party, I was having withdrawals of not having our annual Halloween party so I was grateful to be a part of this one. The kids came up with great costumes this year. I had to do some rummaging at the DI to help them but they were very creative.

Luke as the Mad Hatter.

Lindsey as Frankenstein.

Heather as "Road Kill"-- very clever I thought.

Savannah as a Pumpkin Witch-- the costume I made for her birthday party.

Matthew as our fearless Knight!

Matthew is Four!

On the morning of October 28th, at 6:30 to be exact, the lights in our bedroom flipped on and Matthew proudley announced, "It's my Birthday!" I'd set out his presents in his room the night before and he woke up, saw them, then got everyone out of bed. I told him to get back in bed so I could bring him breakfast. He did, but he didn't eat much because he wanted to open presents. Matthew got race cars and a race track along with a pillow pet which seems to be the popular present with my kids this year. Matthew also got his first bike for his birthday. Unfortunately, he suffers from the Anderson disorder of not being able to pedal. We are working on it and soon he will be zipping around the house. The good part is, he gets to practice inside the house as it is still under construction and very open right now.

Matthew wanted to have a party with Luke, Lindsey, Heather, Savannah, Mom, Dad and Smudge. That made it easy for me. He is quite an animated little boy and a lot of fun to have in our family.